Knocked down by a feather
by Addy01
Summary: Sometimes, it's the least expected person that become the true heroes of our lives. For Poirot cafe themed writing contest #32: Black. Sequel to The nail that sticks out.


Summary: Sometimes, it's the least expected person that become the true heroes of our lives. For Poirot cafe Themed Writing Contest#32: Black. Sequel to The nail that sticks out.

Word Count: 5165 words (According to Libre Office)

Warning: Minor coarse Language. Major Character Death. T-rating, Unbeta'd

-o-

The most troublesome thing about being undercover, Mouri Kogoro thought as he hid behind the crates just beyond their radar, was when you let the bad guys get away and the guilt started gnawing on you heart and soul until it became suffocating.

That's what he got for not breaking cover.

 **"** **I'm so sorry, Conan-kun."  
**  
Especially when his close ones were in danger. And Edogawa Conan was one of his kids, dammit! No matter how many time he called him a free loader.

He had known something was up, but he never imagined that the brat had managed to entangle himself with the biggest crime syndicate that he, Mouri Kogoro, had spent up the last decade undercover trying to find the right amount of dirt to bring them down.

And the huge almost empty warehouse that he was in had amplified the horror he had witnessed.

 **Scuffles...was the boy fighting back? No! The guy's too big for him-**

Whatever happened on the Bell Express train, it shook the boy. Flinched at every other sound and movement; constantly looking over his shoulders. Keep an even closer eye on Ran.

It lasted for weeks.

 **Clank, clutter of a small object, followed by a hiss.. Gas... Smoke Grenade?…. Rush footsteps echoed – quick dash, the adult trying to get away from something.**

What sealed the deal for him was when he spotted dangerous glint in his eyes as the tiny figure stood by the door with this hands clenching too hard on the straps of his back and keeping far too still while waiting for Ran to set off to school.

 _"_ _Oi, Bozo, what are you staring at?"_

Why do you look like you're saying Goodbye?

Naturally, the boy stuttered, "Ehh, nothing Oochan… hmmm, just thinking about….what we are going to do in art class today! That's right! Hehehe...he."

 **"Good job Vodka...Bourbon."  
**  
 **"Aniki!"  
**  
And the kid didn't have any art class today. He knew. He checked that timetable the first day it got issued.

 **"** **Gin!"**

That episode had felt like it had happened too long ago, even though it had only been mere hours since he had decided to tail the boy this morning.

 **"Ah yes… Of course."  
**  
It had really been the most singularly hardest thing that he'd done, not to do a single thing, keeping his utterly useless cover, while the brat was kidnapped right before his eyes.

 **"That should contain all the information you need. Make sure it doesn't go to waste."  
**  
Harder than pushing Eri away so that she can pursue her career without being tainted by his job, harder than letting Ran see her father drinking himself to waste, mostly to keep his cover as an incompetent detective and a little to help him get through his life after seeing the consequences of the things he did to keep his cover over the years.

 **"Don't worry yourself with that irritating man, Vodka. We have got more important things to attend to."**

It was only the knowledge that the brat was actually sixteen year old Kudo Shinichi (still far too young dammit!) that kept him in his place, recording the very last bit of information that he could on that miniature recorder that had been masquerading as his lighter – the latest upgrade fro. Hoping against hope that all that little bit information that he had collected this past years months was enough to help the PSB, and the FBI and all the other agencies that had landed themselves in this mess, in their case, rescue the brat and end this nightmare once and for all.

 **"It's time to implement 'Project Phoenix'."  
**  
-o-

"Here, isn't this enough for? All these evidence... What exactly do you need for you to save a god damn six year old now from those disgusting son of the-" He held his tongue in the last moment, despite his rage so close to the edge. It was a habit that he adopted to appease his daughter, who had not wanted him to curse in front of the young and supposedly impressionable boy who had been their charge the last few month.

He was not able to contradict the news that Megure-Keibu had delivered to Ran and him when he came home that evening. He had stayed back behind at the warehouse after the long blond man had long left, continue to gather his video evidence of the stocky guy dragging a corpse of another little boy into the centre of the warehouse before setting it ablaze. _Those sick motherf-, that poor boy.  
_  
Poor Ran was still bawling her eyes out in her room since the news last night. He would have been there with her, but he still need to report to his handlers, and arrange for something to be done to save the kid...

Which was why he was at the other side of town in the busy city centre instead, pleading his case with the two men that he'd come to be too frustrated about with their lack of inaction.

However, as much as he detest them at the moment, it would not do to curse around someone who you are pleading for help. Sooner or later he would start cursing at them too, and that would not do him any favours.

"I'm sorry Mouri-san. We need to make sure that we have an iron clad case before we can present it to the judge. Any little bit of doubt and the whole case crumbles. You know that. This case is linked to far too many of those corrupt politicians who'd be able to bury this all away into the swamps if we are not careful."

His handler punctuated his sentence with a flick of cigarette butt and extinguishing it with his foot.

"Just hold on a little longer. We know from Amuro-san that the kid's being kept alive. Project Phoenix is about recruit and inducting new elite agents into their ranks. We are doing our best to get him out.

"Please, just trust us. We know what we are doing." And with that, they send him away.

He kept to himself all in that forty five minute journey to Beika park – he had used this detour often enough that it would not be suspicious to be seen hanging around, and he won't have to worry about bugs that had been sneaked in while he was away. (He had, of course, made sure to check for any on his person. He cannot be too careful this days.)

"'Will do our best? Know what we are doing?'T hat's not enough my sorry ar-" he grumbled as he tried to lit his cigarette with one hand, and his phone on the other, pressing on a contact that he'd been itching to dial the whole morning.

It's time to enact 'Plan B'.

"Ah Hakase…This is Mouri. I know about Bozo and the Kudo brat….No, its….just let me finish!... He's still alive, but he's with Them... Yes, I know about Them too… Can you help me contact those FBI friends that he likes to hang around with? The one who's living next door? I need help their help to get him out of there."

-o-

 _He had not had the slightest interest in taking up the job when it was first offered to him. But then, that happened and then suddenly, he had not got a choice anymore._

Mouri Kogoro had been in the force for four years now. As a raising star in the academy, he quickly managed to raise to Assistant Inspector, just under Megure-keibu's command. He had everything going for him. The job was paying well enough. He's got a lovely wife and daughter and was set for life.

Unfortunately, to save his wife from that awful hostage situation, he sacrificed his career. He knew that the moment he decided to pull the trigger (and he would do it all over again), though it did not mean that it hurt any lesser to have his career go up in smokes in a blink of an eye.

A couple of days after that, while wasting away at Blue Parrot bar that was owned by an old family friend and former informant, Jii Konosuke, who had opened up just for him, two officers from the PSB offered him the opportunity again to be an informant/undercover.

In his desperation to cling on to his old aspirations that had just crumbled to dust mere days ago, he snapped up the job.

It was the only way for him to remain a police officer, in everything but name.

-o-

"Oh my…is this...you sure these are really legitimate?"

He met up with the FBI agents half an hour later. Luckily for him, the Hakase's house was the perfect place to meet inconspicuously.

And boy were they hyperventilating once he presented them with the hardrives containing evidence he had been collecting while undercover.

And the disc containing that programme to allow access into Black Organisation file without erasing anything from the laptop his was reading from.

"This is...a gold mine. Do you realise that this is exactly what we need to bring them down. Legally." Jodie Starling, Ran's old high school teacher, whispered in disbelief, her eyes never leaving the screen as she scan through document after document.

"Of course, I'm not an idiot. Otherwise I won't have shown this to you." he huffed.

"And the PSB has just been seating on this for what? Three years now?"

"Nah, one maybe? One of my informants knows a thief who's as good as Kaitou KID. Swiped that programme for me. I had been collected those pretty discs for years though, but can only present it as readable evident recently. Along with the other audio and video evidence that I had collected, it should have been more than enough to start arresting people." He gave a wave, that was not the most important point. "Those seat-warmers, said some crap about needing even more info to create an iron-clad case. Not enough information on the other of the higher ups that they want to arrest too apparently."

"Must be shooting up some joint if you ask me." The other bulky agent, (Camel-san was it?), whistled as he review another case file.

"So, is this enough?" Kogoro subconsciously started tapping his feet. Erhh, he really need another stick right now. _Waiting for them to review the evidence was excruciating. That had better not be wasting my time and said they need more...  
_  
"More than enough by ten times over, I'd say." Subaru-san. No, Akai-san replied, before looking him in the eye. "If you get trouble for this? We got your back. You have my word."

"Alright...alright." his head was spinning. After all this time, how much sooner could this have ended if...

He shook his head, he can think about that later. Right now, what matters most...

"So how do we get Conan-kun out of there..."

-o-

 _When Kogoro had initially set up his Detective Agency as part of his cover, he was running it as per his normal, competent self._

Then, he realised he was getting a little bit too good at his job.

He was getting far too many legitimate job offers to be able to spare the time to hunt down on leads on this Black Syndicate that' was supposedly behind every other corruption and crime. And when he managed to fit in the time, those leads shriveled up the moment they learnt he used to be a police detective with a squeaky clean record and a lawyer wife that was actually decent at his line of work.

While that put food on the table, it did nothing to gain traction in his new purpose in life. Later, after so many failed attempts to rejuvenate his role, he was ordered to be incompetent – maybe be a drunken? and let's throw in a gambling addict while we were at it, shall we?

It was devastating to see the crushing disappointment in Megure-keibu's eyes, the ridicule in his friends' eyes, the disbelief and anger in his wife's and daughter's eyes as his wittered away for a role that may bore him any fruit.

\- Especially in Eri's eyes. That hurt the most, even more so when she packed up and moved away.

He spent the next decade stalking infidel spouses - enough to support him and Ran and the Agency (everything had to look right on paper, as it won't do for his cover to get blown due to his taxes), and the rest of the time hanging out at bars and clubs and gambling dens, putting his ear on the ground for any sign of this infernal syndicate that he had been assigned to find more information.

He took comfort on the fact that it didn't take long for him to receive an invite through Jii-san into an izakaya that was the gateway to this inclusive underground society. Not all the affairs that happened were because of Them. However, they had many fingers in many pies and almost everything led back to them one way or another.

No one paid attention to the washed up drunk gambler at the corner making a fool out of himself. He was surprised at how easily overlooked he was. He never imagined how simple it was, and how much information he was getting just by being in the same room as the business men and politician gathered to exchange pleasantries.

It was all about being in the right place at the right time, and being able to play off as a gossipy drunk certainly covered enough suspicions to avoid scrutiny on how he had learned enough to trade information. And with how high everyone inevitably become at some point, it was not to hard. So long as you know who were the weak points to pounce on. He was lucky enough not get suckered in so hard in this game that there's no way out. No turncoats or mole ever survived this hole.

And if they ever suspected a mole, it was always someone else who had taken the fall and suddenly disappeared in the night, never darkening the doorsteps of this underground parade.

As he pilfered every bit of evidence he could get away with no matter how petty they may be, he wondered how long more did he have to do it.

How long before he could uncover the link between these hidden crimes and the puppet masters behind them.

How long did he have to carry that heavy weight in this heart that kept him awake at night.

That day had better come soon.

-o-

He had let out yelp when he was pulling into the alley all on the sudden, so quickly that he almost lost his orientation. On instinct, he quickly grab hold of the perpetrators arm that had been over his waist and shifted the stance of his leg-

"It's me! Jii." came the panic cry.

"Oh my...you scared me!" Kogoro quickly let of the arm, embarrassed. He should not have let himself be caught by surprised like that, no matter how preoccupied he was."What the-".

"Look," Jii cut him off, "it's getting dangerous for you to be here, in Beika. I think that little kid of yours, he was involved with Them. And they might be thinking about getting rid loose ends if you keep hanging around."

Kogoro could feel himself momentarily stiffen. _Well, he didn't think things would escalate that quickly. It's been barely a day since….  
_  
"I'll need to go as well. Here." Pressing something into his hand that made him pause. A small box the size of a phone.

"Make sure to look through it when it's safe-"

And then, there was a panic cry.

"Jii! Watch out!" A figure game speeding down the alley towards, a shirt and jeans, a cap covering most of his face. In one hand, it was a white plastic gun-like shape that would not look out of place in the arcade...wait that looked familiar-

Then he felt a huge force, pushing him back, as the sound of something hitting the ground -

 _A bullet?! A sniper?!_

His eyes frantically searching the roof top of the second floor, where it must have come from, before he spotted an ugly, angry scowl on a red-head just before she moved out of sight. Then, his eye caught sight a card embedded to the cement where she had been standing-

He felt himself being dragged further into the alley, and then pushed right through the backdoor of some old random shop house. Well, as least they were out of targeting range of the moment...

"Okay, when you said you got someone like Kaitou KID to help out find all those stuff...I didn't think you actually got the man himself." He couldn't helped by quipped, breaking in the silence and tension that had enveloped them the last few minutes as they all caught their breaths. He could feel himself started to shiver as the adrenaline started to leave his body. _Godd-, he was really out of shape- Wait a second..._

"Ran! Oh no! What if they got her-."

"Go, you better go." Pushing him towards another door at the other side of the kitchen.

"But what about-"

"We'll be fine. We have been taking care of ourselves for a long time now. Just go and get that boy out of there." Jii said, moving closer to KID.

"Good luck." KID called out, for the first time with none of the cheeriness, and after the puff of smoke cleared, it was as if they were never there in the first place.

-o-

 _He had not realised what a lucky break he had gotten (and how lucky he was to be able to keep his life )until much, much later._

Ran had dragged that detective gaki of hers to the amusement park, and like a good Daddy he was, he had been following them all day. Not that he did not trust the brat, having watch him grow up from a puny, snotty little baby. But a teenage boy is a teenage boy, and he would not be doing his duty if he did not keep an eye on them.

Most so, it's been quite recently, quiet like the peace before the storm and he needed a small break before it caught up with him.

He had kept an eye on them, and even staying put at a cafe instead of barging in when there seemed to be a murder at one of the rides they had been on (and since those kids did not step out of the building the whole time the police were there, they must have been involved somehow, shish what luck!).

By the time he spotted them exiting the building, it was nightfall. He had planned to start heading back – he told Ran he would be home the whole day - when he had the shock of his life at who came out right after them.

It's those men! From the Black Organisation!

Not looking at a gift in the horses mouth, he tailed them all the way to the back of the building where he was able to witness, and record (with sound!) an illicit transaction with Councilman Tamamoto.

Score!

Then, a loud thud resonated the whole area, before a body fell onto the ground – was that the Kudo brat?!

That stupid, ignorant, son of the - ! He better not have dragged Ran along with him-

Kogoro stood still at his spot, not moving an inch as he could barely see the blond feeding some sort of pill into the kid's mouth – all the while recording it with this camcorder, even though all the policeman in him wanted to go and rescue the kid.

By the time he approached the boy, long after the two men had left, he could see steam raising from the kid and only half the mass occupying what had been a teenage boy's body...

What sort of poison was that? Shrunk! The kid shrunk? Is he still breathing?

Before he could investigate further, loud footsteps approaching and he quickly jump back into his hiding place...

...and guess who came to his house that night?

At least he could say that the moment he laid eyes on the boy, he knew that Edogawa Conan was no ordinary child.

-o-

"Ran, pack your bags, we are leaving."

"Dad?"

"Just do it Ran. We don't have much time. Just the important stuff-"

"Mouri!"

He had been assigned as Amuro's pseudo handler, as the men had been so deep undercover in that Black Organisation that he could not freely relay back important but none time-sensitive information to the black organisition. It also helped that the Black Organisation had assigned Amuro to keep an eye on him.

His handlers were not happy with him becoming Sleeping Kogoro (Peh! Like he had a choice, stupid sleeping darts. Stupid, troublesome boy can't stop playing detective. Can't wait for the day get immune to those darts. Seriously! At this rate he can't be have surgery anymore when he needed it with all the anesthetics pump into his system on such a regular basis.) He managed to wave of their concerns, He wasn't getting much lead recently anyway, with the way he was going – other than contribute to the long list of crimes were being committed by closing an eye in the name of 'collecting evidence'.

They don't interact that often, other than in the role they play...

But he was not surprised that the uptight was cornering him now.

"You told the FBI, didn't you?" The blond was practically vibrating with rage.

"Amuro-kun."

"Those intruders aren't discrete in the slightest! Whatever they are planning to do, it's making the higher ups nervous. You need to pull them out and get them off the case!"

It took Kogoro all he could not to react instinctively to that.

Everything had been turned up side down in the last forty eight hours. Conan (His kid!) got kidnapped for some sick experiment to turn him into a monster killer; he had been crushed when the PSB still refused to act on the information he had provided and had to turn to the FBI for help; he had been shot at...And this upshoot had the gut to come in and demand for him to stop trying to save his kid?

But he reined it all in, even though all Kogoro wanted to do was to throttle the man who had allowed Conan-kun to get kidnapped.

He stalked up to the piece of trash until he got him back against the wall, which shook hard enough to topple a couple of books that had been place precariously on the shelf leaning against the wall.

"Look. You don't even know what sort of information I have got, do you? What information the higher ups had been seating on all this while and not doing a single thing about it while the civillians are getting caught up with this mess. Now, even the Interpol has gotten involved. Whatever information that I passed on to them, it's sending red alerts to all the other agencies around the world. The MI6, the FBI..., all of them are preparing to take down the Blacks in their own tuft. And Japan is still doing zilched. There's something wrong there. Something or someone's holding up the investigation on our end."

He could see Amuro-kun's eyes bugged out at the implication. _Good! Maybe he'll start listening and get off his high horses. Good riddance for small favours._

"Do you know what's behind the Black Organisation? Let me tell you. They are behind all the biggest pharmaceutical companies globally. Their main goal is to selling subpar drug and treatments, so that people would never get well enough stopping buying their medicine. And they need to strong arm politicians and doctors and all the other professional to make sure they can get the monopoly they wanted. That's their big picture! Or at least, that's a big enough part of their business operation that we can bring them down once and for all! And you know what, those high horses at the HQ? They had known about it for the past year now, and did nothing but to send all of us back to the ghetto."

Kogoro decided to punctuate that with a punched the gut. The news must had been a big blow to him, as Amuro did nothing to dodge it, and was now sliding down the floor, cradling his stomach.

"Payback for not telling me about their plans for Conan-kun. I know you were there last night. The least you could do was to tip me off, and you could have still kept you cover."

Kogoro was hiving by the end of the rant.

Amuro remained motionless for a while before he pulled himself up, keeping his silent all the way as he processed what he had just learned.

"Keep the damn kid alive. Or I'll skin you alive the next time I see you." Kogoro grabbed his shirt and threw him out of the door when he was not moving fast enough.

He hollered as Amuro descended down the stairs, who paused at the exclamation before continuing on.

"Dad? Wha-?"

He turned towards his daughter, who was hovering by the toilet door. He could just see the questions, fear and, worst, the hope in her eyes. Oh shoot. He forgot Ran was there...

"Just...I'll explain later. Ran. We are leaving in ten."

-o-

It's been too long since Kogoro felt the heavy weight of the badge hanging on his neck and the Kevlar on his old body.

A little international strong arming and, from the grapevine, a little push from the Amuro, the PSB had pulled together and finally started their operation to bring the Black Organisation down.

(They discovered that the superintendent of the PSB had been a mole since day one, which was no wonder the plumbing was so clogged up over there.)

A month after Kogoro stage the events that set the domino effect, he was standing outside one of their main labs that host their most controversial and incriminating experiments. With all the stops being pulled to arrest all the Black Organisaiton operatives in one swoop, Kogoro was drafted to secure the science labs from their hands.

And they found Conan in one of their labs during one of their raids. The boy, all loose skin and bones, chapped lips and hollow eyes that he would never be able to get out of his mind for the rest of his life, hugged Kogoro with strength that belie his statue when Kogoro brought him out of the building and realised that he was finally saved.

They decided to keep Conan in the hospital for observation when reports emerged that they were pumping some unknown drugs into the kid, not the least the malnutrition and dehydration and marred the small body.

The kid was sleeping soundly now, looking so much like a little angel with the peace and tranquility marring his features, and even more so with Ran, who had also fallen asleep by the bedside. It was the first time they booth looked so at peace in the past year. He was glad that it was over for them.

 _Thank goodness you're alive gaki. I may even let you marry Ran-._

A cough interrupted his musing. He had twisted his head quite a bit before looking down and found one of the Kudo's little ducklings, the quiet one, right in front of him. What does she want from him? He had vaguely remembered that the kid had been involved as well, but he did not have more than four, five hours of sleep for the past few weeks and in his sleep-addled mind, he couldn't really remember-

"Mouri-san, I heard you were the very person who's responsible in bring down the Blacks. You have my thanks."

 _Oh yes, the creepy one in the group._

"I actually want to ask you if you could help me find any information pertaining the APTX 4869? Ever single information I can get my hands on is essential in helping me create the antidote to help Kudo return to his body."

And yes, the one that always spoke like an adult – wait what?

"Create the antidote? You?" He understood her correctly, didn't he?

She raised her eyebrow at that – definitely mocking him.

 _Brats. All of them.  
_  
"My codename was Sherry. The same thing that happened to Kudo happened to me. Weren't you at the debriefing when they revealed this?"

"When? What debriefing?" He had been with his kids the whole time.

"I guess not then." she paused before continuing, "So, if you can find anything about the pill that supposedly caused untraceable death, please pass it on to me."

And then she turned her heels and left the room.

 _Erhh… forget sleep, he really really need a drink now._

-o-

Mouri Kogoro did not get to be in the police force by being the lazy drunk that he'd come to. He like to think that he was one of the smarter tools in the shed, and the jack of all trades, and was good enough in them that he managed to get by the whole undercover assigned relatively unscathed.

He like to think that he was smart enough to impress Eri (and her father...yes him…) for her to agree to marry him in the first place. And he like to think that it was this smarts that kept him alive till today.

Now, it was time get his life back.

He braced himself before knocking on her office door.

"Anata?"

Kogoro shoved the bouquet of flowers into her hands.

"Eri, it's all over now. Could you please come home with me now?"

And sweet, lovely Eri said yes.

As they were walking out of the building, he thought that though this was not what he had planned for his life, he did not regret making the decision to take up the job.

He thought of Kudo and that little scientist girl, and Jii with the boy who was far too young to be risking his life being Kaitou KID … He didn't think that it was arrogance when he said he had made a difference. He did not regret any of it-

Suddenly, all he could feel was an explosion of unbearable pain as his knees gave away and he slumped on the ground. His hands immediately clutch on what could only be a gunshot wound, doing his best to keep the red liquid from flowing out of his body.

The ringing in his ears muffed everything around him, even as he tried to concentrate of Eri...on her sweet pained voice as she called out him name.

 _Okay. Maybe he regretted it just a little…_

If only because he could have spent more time with Eri.

-o-

Owari

Note:

Aha! I bet no one expected this when I said I was going to do a sequel. I certainly didn't till this week. Though whether this fic makes sense it is up to you.

I'll let you guys decided if he died from the gunshot XD

I had thought to do an epic sequel for 'The nail that sticks out', but this plunny came and fitted like a glove….so ya...maybe one day that epic plot I had initially had in mind will see the light of day in another form….some day.

And yes, I included Movie 2 in this fic, even though it's one of my least favourite. It works anyway.

I also have this headcannon that Korogo's a lot, lot more competent than how he's portrayed in the Manga. And I was watching Internal Affairs over the weekend. That's how this little plunny was caught.


End file.
